OPINION
Coming Wednesday, August 22...
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
I HAD TO PARK LINE TEN
MILES AWAY, SO I M
@ONNA BE LATE FOR
CLASS.
YOU SHOULD GET A
PARKING PERMIT.
I HAVE A PARKING PERMIT
IT COST ME ZOO FREAKING
DOLLARS.
WOW, THAT SUCKS.
WWW.KANSAN.COM
TUESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2007
PAGE 7A
EDITORIAL BOARD
Israel halts refugees' escape route
The genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan will likely be the prevalent human
rights cause of our generation. Organizations all over the world have sought to bring attention to the slaughter of non-Arab Sudanese civilians at the hands of the government-backed Janjaweed militia. Yet, as refugees from the region flood into other parts of Africa and the Middle East, there are states that would wrongly deny them sanctuary.
Sunday, Aug. 19, Israel rejected admittance through their borders to
roughly 50 African refugees. Their reasoning: It is against Israeli law to allow refugees from enemy states entry to the country, Sudan's government is classified as an enemy of Israel. The fact that these refugees are also the enemy of the Sudanese government (which doesn't officially carry out genocide, but supports those who do) apparently held no sway.
The refugees had traveled through Egypt on their way to Israel, and been allegedly subjected to brutality on the part of the Egyptian military, charges which Egypt has
yet to respond to. However, Israeli military officials claim to have witnessed Egyptian officials executing and brutalizing refugees. The asylum-seekers who were turned away from Israel will likely be forced to return to Egypt, where they may be killed.
This is not a case of immigration for economic or even political prospects. The people escaping Darfur are literally running for their lives. Laws are generally the glue that holds societies and nations together, but in this case, Israeli law is unjust.
Many Israelis agree. Members of the Knesset, Israel's legislative body, are signing petitions, urging the government to allow Sudanese refugees to remain in the country. Civilian volunteer workers are trying to help the 400 or so refugees who have been allowed to stay in Israel find housing and employment.
In an increasingly hostile region, Israel should have been a beacon of light to those whose livelihoods had been destroyed in Darfur. Instead, as has occurred all too often in this conflict (which has been going on since 2003), Israel turned out to be
another dead end. It does not have to be this way.
Israel has the opportunity to do right by these asylum-seekers, and must remember that "the enemy of my enemy is my friend." Its citizens and areas of its leadership seem eager to accept these people; now the government as a whole must become as progressive as its population.
Besides the fact that taking in these refugees is far and away the right thing to do, Israel stands to better its image with black African Muslims. While earlier civil conflicts in Sudan dealt primarily with religious strife (pitting Muslims against Christians and Animists), the Darfur massacre is mostly one of racial cleansing; according to the United Nations, most of its victims are Muslim.
Israel is usually in the news for its conflict with Palestinians. It could, however, grab notoriety for assisting numerous desperate people in their time of need. That, we maintain, would be a vast improvement.
FREE FOR ALL: 864-0500
Free for All callers have 20 seconds to speak about any topic they wish. Kansan editors reserve the right to omit comments. Slanderous and obscene statements will not be printed. Phone numbers of all incoming calls are recorded.
Hey Free for All, I got some righteous munchies between seven and nine o'clock on Sunday. Good thing there was some Jam Sandwich on the radio for me to eat
IM-DESPERATE-AS-HELL
I'm advertising for a new boy friend. Any takers call 1-800
Hi my name is Katrina- That's "K" as in "kandy," "A" as in "apple," "T" as in "Texaco," "R" as in "robber," "N" as in "nectarine." I forgot the "I." I can't even spell my own name. What's wrong with me?
I'm just wondering, how does one ride a bike in stilettos?
My thermodynamics professor just did twenty push-ups in thirty seconds.
Tell that kid from Budig to find a bathroom next time.
Close your eyes and you'll burst into flames.
very much.
DRAWING BOARD
meticulously. Who folds their underwear?
I was doing my laundry in McCollum, and I saw this guy folding his underwear very
Frat guys are ugly.
Max Rinkel
TUESDAY MORNING
New Rule: Gravy Not to Be Served Above 20,000 ft.
Flying is supposed to be the most convenient way to travel. Convenient. Is waking up at four a.m. to get to the airport at the recommended two hours before your flight just to go through security then wait in naive hope at the gate for an unachievable on-time departure, to get on a plane...late, just to wait on the runway another
thirty minutes, take off,
land, then
wait another forty-five minutes for your bag to show up convenient?
Well. I'm not believing it.
two-week-old cake then security is the sweaty slightly congealed sticky-tack icing on top. Waiting in lines that make the last five minutes of your least favorite class seem like heaven, just to be frisked by security personnel is not exactly an activity you want to participate in before a cup of coffee. Security is of course completely necessary, but sometimes as I stand in a security line, barefoot, smelling the built-up stench of thousands of sweaty feet having passed through the same small area and squeamishly considering what possibly could be hidden in the realms
If the airport is a dry
You know that McDonald's spicy wrap commercial? Does anyone else think that's border-line racist?
of the sickly brown carpet beneath my feet, I wonder if maybe there is a less degrading way to navigate passengers through security, one that insures I will never contact foot fungus.
out on a five hour flight when I was served chicken, green beans and scalloped potatoes. I really should have known better. The chicken was not a color any chicken, or other meat, should ever be. Plus, it was smothered in some kind of brown guck, gravy apparently. After this experience, I think as a general rule, gravy should not be served above a certain altitude. Added to the fun of awkwardly asking the people beside you to move for the third time, not to mention the occasional showdown with the flight attendant and her cart blocking your way makes
The fun doesn't stop there. Oh no, it's just as exciting on the plane. From that first whiff of "hospital-esque"
airplane air, you know you have a meal to look forward to that tastes exactly the same. What you don't know is that afterwards, you're likely to be using the lavatory more often than you expected. This I quickly found
To the person that found my wallet on Monday: Thank you
you wish you'd just had that fifth Cinnabon cinnamon roll and been done with it all. Basically, airline food could do with some improvement. And no, adding more salt is not the answer.
After all this hassle, you arrive at your destination in a semi-timely fashion. Now you can shake off the experience, chill out and head to baggage claim.
When I was on an early morning flight to San Francisco this summer, a woman in the seat next to me asked the flight attendant for a pillow. You know, the dinky ones half the size of a piece of copy paper. The flight attendant's aggravated response was that the airline had discontinued pillows and told the woman to go to www.delta.com/feedback, the response left the woman without a pillow and instead gave her a chore. In a move just as ridiculous, Northwest Airlines has begun charging extra for the "roomier" aisle seat. I suppose the thinking is that the seat is slightly more comfortable because you can spread out into the aisle. Although, I doubt they take into account the unanticipated elbow bashing from the drink cart and the constant movement of other passengers. But at least they're thinking of you, their customer.
Hudson is a Wichita sophomore in journalism and business.
NICE AND ACCURATE PROPHECIES
Crash Course: National Anthems From Singing to Politics, Everything under the Drawn's Early Light
As I am a strong proponent of education and its benefits, today I'm going to teach you all about something very near and dear to everyone: National anthems.
Intricate musical parts of any country's heritage, these various ballads of "daring do" empower people of nations (provided they know the words) and offer vital time before the commencement of sporting events to visit the lavatory or buy a much needed beer, pretzel, or nacho plate.
As individual citizens of various nations we pose, hats in hands, hands over hearts, elbows cocked in salute, heads bowed in praise and we pay homage to our nation in grandiose stupendatry, shouting choruses and shedding tears during the high parts.
"O say, can you see, by the dawn's early light..."
Francis Scott Key, a lawyer, wrote the poem "The Star Spangled Banner" after watching the British naval attack of Fort McHenry during the American war of 1812. I say the American war of 1812 because there were other wars raging in Europe at the time (most of them started by this little French dude named Napoleon Bonaparte...see "1812 Overture").
Why did he write it, though?
What was in it for him?
Knowing the time period and the writers of said time period, I'm sure his explanation had something to do with an indescribable rush of emotion while watching the besieged fort through the mists of cannon smoke and glory.
I think he knew he could hook up with a musician, copyright the lyrics and then market it to Congress for a profit...such it the American way.
Pardon my being snide. God bless the republic and save it from itself!
But Key wasn't the only author of anthems. What about Sir Adolphe-Basile Routhier, the penner of the
great and rousing "O, Canada" that stirs the hearts of those in the great land to the north, or Francisco González Bocanegra, who wrote the Mexican national anthem?
Across the sea they have "Rule Britannia," by that magnificent and esteemed James Thompson. And in France, they break bread to the hip tones of La Marseillaise (of "Casablanca" fame).
Such stirring and important contributions to patriotism are these collections of notes and words. They unify spirits; they stir a lust for life in every countryman of every country. At the Olympic Games, these anthems are played nonstop for days on end causing, blindness, paralysis, sepsis, aneurisms in the heart and brain, occasional irregularity and eventually surrender.anything repeated so often would do so (see Panama 1991).
What's the deal, folks? Why did we use songs to make us feel better than everybody else?
"Oer the land of the free and the home of the brave"
"Englishmen will near ever be slaves."
"Que veut cette horde desclaves, De traits, deois conjurés?" Which either means "What does this horde of slaves, traitors, and plotting kings want?" or "Why won't anybody buy our little Eifel tower paperweights?"
All of these anthems seem like badges worn to show the countries of the globe how separate they are from one another and how much better than everyone else they esteem themselves.
Every country is the best country without question and if anyone from anywhere says different while I'm within earshot and loaded to the gills, they'll have my size-12 boots to deal with!
Such pithy bragging, such childish taunting these anthems seem. I'll admit I get teary sometimes when the U.S. anthem is played but it's just a song, words and notes that inspire something in me that an entirely different song inspires in someone else from entirely different nation.
Why isn't there a world anthem?
Something we can all play everywhere and love equally? Probably because the idea seems too warm and fuzzy...
I'm a realist; I understand that the whole world holding hands and singing Cum-by-yaw is a little tellitubby we-e-e-eird.
If there is any hope for a unified world, these songs have either got to go or recognize that every nation in the world has flaws, foibles, skeletons in their closet, monsters under their beds, and bats in their bellfries. We are the world, full of animosity.
Twinah himself once commented on the stupidity of patriotism and war saying that "man is the only animal that blushes, or needs to."
So I say we prove that old Bushwacking Missouriian wrong. Let us drop the chanade and shrug our shoulders and say we are not now nor have we ever been perfect and that the invisible lines of the world will only become more and more visible with each hollered stanza and each ear-splittingly screeched chorus.
We are one world despite our enso-old delusions to the contrary. Somebody should write a song about that or at least a snappy jingle that can be played before the Super Bowl.
Smith is a Rose Hill graduate student in English.
Erick R. Schmidt, editor
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